Dangerous Minds
by ChatterChick
Summary: A series of one-shots about everyone's favourite Ravenclaws.
1. Guilty Minds

Dangerous Minds

by ChatterChick

A/N I've been writing a longer piece about Dumbledore's Army (yet to be posted), but in the meantime I'll be posting some one-shots about the Ravenclaws here. They're all kind of set in the same universe, but can be enjoyed as they are. :) R&R please and thanks.

Guilty Minds

In which Michael Corner gains an unlikely new friend.

Michael glanced up to find Luna Lovegood hovering over the table he was studying at. She was balancing an open textbook in one hand and had a roll of parchment and quill in the other.

"Do you mind if I sit here? All the other tables are full."

Michael gestured towards the seat across from him. A quick glance down the aisle told him the table with the rest of the fifth year Ravenclaws had a few empty seats. He wisely chose not to comment on it. Instead, he asked her how her OWL year was going.

If he wasn't paying attention, he wouldn't have caught her shoulders sag or her eyes go dull. Within seconds she seemed her usual, doll-like self and any indicators of stress had melted away. Seeing Luna of all people look tired and stressed did not sit well with Mike. It was such a _normal_ emotion on a girl who was anything but.

"It's challenging of course, none of the professors are going easy on us. I think they believe if we're worried about school we'll be too occupied to worry about Voldemort."

It had taken the better part of fifth year for Mike to become comfortable with the ease that Harry Potter and the Gryffindors spoke you-know-who's name. Even now, it took considerable effort not to react.

"Professor McGonagall's been hinting at a test in transfiguration this week and my notebook has vanished. I was hoping it would turn up eventually, but I really do need to study."

"Is there another nargles infestation in the girls' dorms?" Michael joked.

Luna didn't seem too offended as she chided him. "I'm aware you don't believe nargles exist, Michael. You made your point quite clear last year in the DA."

The memory was enough to make him feel a bit guilty at how he treated her.

Luna had drawn up posters warning of a possible nargles infestation in the girls' dorms. A number of her things had gone missing since the start of the term and she believed they were stealing them. She had asked Anthony and Padma to warn the rest of the students since no one took her seriously and it might have a bit more weight coming from a prefect. After watching his friends carefully dance around the topic – neither really had the heart to tell Luna she was the victim of a couple of mean-spirited girls – Michael decided to put an end to the entire conversation.

It was a bad day when even Ronald Weasley thought you were a bit insensitive.

"You could borrow my notes from last year," he offered. "I'm sure she doesn't change the content too much. I managed to get an Outstanding on the OWL so they're pretty thorough."

Luna seemed a bit surprised as he led her back to their common room and into the sixth year boys' dormitory. She didn't say much as she allowed him to ramble, giving the finer points of what he remembered from his OWLs. "The history OWL focused primarily on the witch burnings and warlock councils and less on the goblin wars. The ministry isn't as interested in whether we know about other magical beings as much as our own history. That probably doesn't surprise you – "

He held open the door and allowed her into the disaster he and his friends called their room. Stephen, Kevin and Terry were nowhere to be found, but Anthony was sitting on the windowsill with his owl.

"Er - Mike?" Anthony cast a glance at Luna. She gingerly sat on the edge of Michael's bed and glanced around the room. Her unblinking eyes finally settled back on him.

"Giving Luna a hand with OWLs," he shrugged his shoulders. "Have you seen where I put my old potions notes?"

"Your potions notes are shit, give her Terry's."

"_All_ of our potions notes are shit. Snape couldn't be bothered to teach it properly." Michael smugly reminded him. There had been some rather late nights sent pouring over potions textbooks, but in the end, the three had managed to secure the required Outstanding to be placed in NEWT level potions. Of course, it was all moot anyway when Slughorn took the post and lower the required grade to an Exceeds Expectations.

He proceeded to duplicate copies of all his notebooks and dumped them into the arms of the bemused fifth year. She thanked him heartily before skipping out of the room. Probably off to look for wrackwhatsits or to study or something.

Anthony watched him the entire time. "That was unusually _kind_ of you."

"Oh sod off."

"I'm sure finding a solution to the – er, _nargles_ in her dorm would prove better in the long run."

"Don't suppose you've ever heard of a cure for nargle infestation."

"I hear nargles don't like it when their victims have friends. Particularly popular, sixth years," Anthony gave a thin smile.

Michael rolled his eyes. Luna was friends with, arguably, the most popular guy in their school. Harry Potter and his gang of Gryffindors seemed to have taken Luna under their wing this year. That had come as a bit of a surprise as he thought they mostly tolerated her presence during the DA sessions.

Of course, having friends in other houses did little to help her situation within their own common room. Maybe if she just had someone in her corner, the rest would back off. He sighed, leaving the dormitories. It was high time someone did this.

Across the common room, a couple of the fifth year girls were giggling with their heads together. He was fairly certain their names were Ariel Warbeck and Chelsea Gibson. They were earning heated glares from a couple of stressed seventh years.

He stood in front of them, arms folded and trying to look the part of an annoyed NEWT student. "Whatever you're laughing at, do you mind keeping it down? Some of us have homework."

The pretty brunette, Ariel, giggled as she lowered the book she was reading. "Sorry, we were only taking a break."

"Give me that," Mike grabbed whatever reading material was so funny. The girls squirmed in front of him as he skimmed through it. It seemed to be an ordinary set of transfiguration notes, word for word the same notes he had taken just a year ago. In the margins, there were citations and clarifications for later studying.

It was some of the clarifications that tipped Michael off. There was loopy handwriting next to the section on Gamp's Law. _Notable exception to the rule on animal to human transfiguration is former Ministry for Magic, Grogan Stump, who spent his first year of life as a peacock. _

"These are quite the detailed notes, I'm sure you'll obtain top OWLs with work like this." Michael glanced over the page to look at the pair of fifth years. He didn't even need to be a legilimens to be able to see the guilty thoughts swirling through Ariel's eyes or the image of a girl with dirty blonde eye and too wide eyes.

"I had no idea you had such an imagination," Michael continued as he scanned through some of the drawing in between the pages. "Is that a Crumple-Horned Snorkack? Yes, I believe it says so in the caption. I'm sure _Luna_ would love to see your interpretation of one."

"You're not going to tell Professor Flitwick, are you?" Ariel pleaded. "We'll give them back."

"Tell Professor Flitwick? Oh no, I'm _much_ more creative than that. A simple gemino on your diary and the entire common room will be having a bit of a laugh at your secret crush on Harry Potter." His comment had been a bit of a gamble, but the result proved satisfying enough. Chelsea's face went very pale and Ariel started to glare at him.

"If I so much as see a notice that Luna's lost a hairpin, you'll both spend the rest of the year with a spotty face that reads BULLY. Am I making myself clear?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me. I've been itching to one-up Hermione Granger's little trick."

Ariel mumbled something rude as she stood up to leave. Chelsea gathered the remainder of their books, quills and ink and the pair abandoned the common room for the safety of the girls' dormitories.

He didn't see either of the girls until he was in the library the next day. They had taken their usual table just down the aisle from him and were alternating between working, whispering and glaring at him.

Mike was okay with that. He was enough of a loudmouth to manage to annoy someone new each day. Today it was Ariel and Chelsea and the rest of their little group of friends. Tomorrow he'd probably earn Anthony's wrath when he realized Mike had volunteered him to take Mandy Brocklehurst to Slughorn's Christmas party.

Luna gracefully slipped into the chair across from him without as much as a how-are-you.

She seemed happy today. Her eyes were shining and much more lucid than their usual dreamy state. She sat there, unabashedly watching him, smiling all the while. It was a little unnerving. He looked around, not sure how to handle her right now.

He recognized the notebook on top of her textbook as the one he had taken from Ariel the night before.

"I take it the nargles were feeling generous?"

"Nargles are never generous, they're actually quite selfish." She sounded oddly solemn. It didn't last long as Luna's lips turned upwards in a bright smile. "Ariel, on the other hand, realized she had my notebook."

He was pleased that he didn't actually have to follow through on his threat. He wasn't entirely keen on jinxing a pair of fifth year girls, even if they deserved it.

"Thank you Michael," she added quietly. "Not many have would have helped me like that."

He tried to downplay it. It wasn't anything more than he'd do for Anthony or Terry anyway and Luna should have _some_ friends to help her. So he told her that he was glad she found his notes helpful.

"Oh, yes, they were very helpful." She blinked a few times and tilted her head. She looked a bit like an odd bird of prey when she did that. Or maybe some fanciful creature he had never heard of. "Although, I noticed your herbology notes were a bit incomplete. It's really nothing Professor Sprout would expect you to know, but I'm sure you'd appreciate knowledge for knowledge's sake and that the whinging butterfly bush _isn't_ extinct – "

Mike groaned.


	2. Misinformed Minds

Dangerous Minds

by ChatterChick

A/N This was actually written a while back for a Christmas exchange at Hogwarts Online. It's Percy's POV but contains some of our favourite Ravenclaws so I thought I'd include it. Enjoy!

Misinformed Minds

In which Percy Weasley tries to separate fact from fiction

"I'm sorry I'm late – security's gone up again."

Percy Weasley breathed a sigh of relief and greeted his girlfriend of just under a year. When Penelope hadn't shown up at their usual meeting point after prefect duties he had begun to suspect the worst. There was a monster attacking muggle-borns in the castle and he was letting her wander into harm's way for Merlin's sake!

"Penny, maybe we shouldn't do this anymore."

Her brown eyes started to water, "What do you mean?"

He silently cursed at himself. He was being an insensitive prat again. This was a pity, because out of all the Weasley brothers, Percy prized himself on being one of the more sensitive ones. It wasn't as if he were _Ron_! He should have known she would take it as if he wanted to break up.

"It's nothing like that – just, I'm worried for you. When you didn't show up – "

"Percy, nonsense, seeing you makes the day just a bit better. Please don't worry for my sake." Penny pleaded with him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair seemed more out of place than usual.

Percy really didn't want to hear about any more trouble tonight. There was a monster running lose in the castle, his prefect patrols were being doubled, the younger students were hysterical, his twin brothers couldn't keep out of trouble (Or Ron, for that matter), his sister spent most of her time crying and he was trying to hide his relationship with Penelope. Regardless, he had been raised better and asked if there was anything he could help her with.

"Oh, it's silly, but there's this first year in Ravenclaw who believes in the most ridiculous of things! She's failing History of Magic because she keeps making up stories on her essays. I have no idea how to convince her otherwise, she's quite adamant about her beliefs."

It was his second year as a prefect and he had spent the better part of his time separating fact from fiction about the wizarding world. Just this past week he had to comfort a hysterical hufflepuff who's muggle sister told her that witches grew green skin and warts! Really, the things muggles come up with!

Percy chuckled. "Let me handle it, I'm used to muggle-borns."

"She's not a muggleborn, which makes this so much more frustrating. Her name's Luna Lovegood."

"Not – " Percy winced. The Lovegood family lived just past the Burrow. His mother generally avoided Mr. Lovegood, especially after he came round for tea and attempted to interview her for a story he was writing. Apparently he believed that the seventh child of a family had hidden magical properties and wanted to experiment on Ginny.

"Yes, her father's the editor of that bloody Quibbler."

Convincing little Luna Lovegood to stop creating stories on her essays was going to be a nightmare, but Percy was determined to try his best.

Percy found the little first year in question the next day. He had recognized her from passing her by in the village that they both lived in. She had wild, long dirty blonde hair and wide, innocent child-like eyes. The more curious things about her were the necklace of butterbeer corks and her raddish earrings. She was in school robes, but he remembered her as someone who wore the most bizarre of outfits.

"Penelope couldn't tutor you today, so she asked me to," Percy began, sitting down at the library table next to her. "She says you need help in History of Magic?"

"I'm very good at history, but no offense to Professor Binns, he hasn't been alive to realize that new things have been discovered since he died."

Percy bit back a comment about the ancient professor. As dry as Binns was, it wouldn't do for a prefect to be questioning the Hogwarts professors. However, that was not the issue here.

"Now, Penny told me you have trouble separating fact from fiction in your history class?" Percy kindly asked the girl.

"Penelope's really nice," Luna said wistfully, "But she only believes in what has been proven – everything else is too much a stretch for her."

"Penelope's a very reasonable witch," Percy attempted to reason with Luna, only to be cut off.

"She didn't believe me about the threstals."

"The what?" Percy was beginning to develop a headache. He felt that this was about to be the first of many very long tales Luna would tell him.

"The creatures who pull the carriages up to the school, you can only see them if you've seen death."

Now Percy remembered them – dark skeletal horses who were rumoured to be extremely dangerous. As if the school would be able to train them and keep them from harming students! Even Dumbledore wouldn't be that touched to think such a dark creature on the grounds of a school would be a good idea. Even if they managed to do it, they would have informed the prefects and heads about it. No, Percy reasoned, someone was just goading Luna into believing some other crazed tale. "Luna, I'm a prefect, I think I would know if there are threstals at the school."

"Hagrid says – "

"Hagrid's just pulling your leg; threstals are too dangerous to keep at a school. Now, I understand you have to write a paper about the founder of your house?" Percy looked over the paper Luna was currently writing.

"The lost diadem of Raven – Luna no such thing has ever been proven to exist, it's just a myth!" Percy groaned. Luna had once again dedicated her essay topic to some nonsense item with more lies than truths about it. Fake diadems were always popping up during OWLs and NEWTs, with lazy students hoping to suddenly become smarter.

"Stolen by Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, Helena," Percy rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you know the location of the diadem too?"

"Of course not, but I have a few ideas," Luna persisted.

By the time Percy got to the part about the Bloody Baron killing Helena and himself out of love and guilt, he had had enough. "Luna, the lost diadem of Ravenclaw does not exist, I have no idea where you're getting your information, but this story telling has got to stop."

"No, I'm not making this up!" She insisted, her voice raising just enough to hint that she was annoyed at being brushed aside.

It should have been a crime for Mr. Lovegood to raise his daughter to believe in such outlandish things! The ministry really ought to have intervened because that poor girl was clearly delusional by this point in her life. Percy had no idea how she was going to survive Hogwarts.

Luna began packing up her notes and Percy realized he was fighting a losing battle. "Just, stick to the facts you read in the text book for the class if you want to pass," he sighed.

"Thank you for your time, Percy, but I'm not changing my topic. Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, isn't that the point of learning? To discover new things? If you don't mind, I'm going to try to find the Bloody Baron and see if he'll give me his version of events." Luna hopped off the stool and skipped out of the library.

Percy put his head in his hands and sighed. That went horribly wrong. If a fraction of that essay had any truth in it, he'd swallow polyjuice potion containing Snape's toenail clippings!


End file.
